806 locals held, 97 properties attached, 41 demolished in anti-drug drive in J&K in 30 days: DGP Nalin Prabhat

The J&K Police on Thursday said 806 persons were arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS), 97 properties worth Rs 41.85 crore were attached and 97 properties worth ₹41.85 crore were demolished between April 11 and May 13, as part of the ongoing anti-drug campaign of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.

“Police have arrested 806 accused in 724 NDPS cases across J&K. 97 properties worth ₹41.85 crore linked to the narcotics trade were identified and attached during the campaign. The Anantnag Police alone attached properties worth ₹6.17 crore in a single case,” said J&K Director General of Police Nalin Prabhat.  

He said 41 properties worth nearly ₹15 crore, “identified as proceeds of drug trafficking”, were demolished after completion of legal formalities. Illegal cultivation of poppy and cannabis spread over 117 kanals of land was also destroyed, the DGP added.

DGP Prabhat said properties were also attached outside the Union Territory at places like Gurdaspur, Pathankot and Chandigarh. “It’s aimed at dismantling wider drug networks operating across states,” he added.

According to police figures, police seized 667 kilograms of narcotics and 90,000 psychotropic tablets and took 24 habitual offenders into preventive detention.

Terming “Pakistan-sponsored terrorism and narco-terrorism as the gravest threats facing J&K,” DGP Prabhat said the Police will “continue its intensified offensive against drug traffickers and their interstate and cross-border networks”.

He said the attachment of assets witnessed a substantial increase between 2023 and 2026. “The J&K Police secured third position at the national level in 2025 for action against narcotics-linked properties. 240 PIT-NDPS detentions were executed during 2025, placing the police at the top position in the country under the category,” said the DGP.

Besides, Mr. Prabhat said driving licences of 162 persons “involved in narcotics-related activities were cancelled or suspended” and 92 registration certificates were revoked. The police also recommended the impounding of 10 passports.

Meanwhile, the police said three “illegally under construction shops” belonging to an NDPS accused were demolished in Kulgam as part of the intensified drive. In Anantnag, a joint anti-encroachment drive conducted at Gawran Larnoo saw demolition of two illegal shop structures belonging to two notorious drug peddlers, the police said.

In Srinagar, a residential house along with land worth approximately ₹1.20 crore “belonging to a notorious drug peddler” was attached, said the police. In Kulgam, the police said an interstate narcotics network was busted and a “notorious lady drug peddler along with her associate” was arrested. 

Meanwhile, the police also attached an immovable property comprising land worth ₹20 Lakhs in Bandipora allegedly of an accused involved in terror-related activities and presently operating as a terror handler from Pakistan/Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK).

“Investigations have revealed that the accused is presently operating from Pakistan/PoK as a terror handler affiliated with the banned terrorist outfit Hizbul Mujahideen and has been actively involved in facilitating and orchestrating terrorist activities in Kashmir Valley,” the police said.